DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS ELECTION!… GUARD THE VOTE; BE A PACA!

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS ELECTION!… GUARD THE VOTE; BE A PACA!

PACA, the acronym for Polling Agents and Counting Agents. They are the people who are authorized by our elections laws to serve on election day. In summary their role is to protect the secrecy of the vote; ensure that balloting is done according to the rules AND they also ensure that only those who are eligible or who are registered get to vote. As ROSE is an NGO whose vision is to build a community of informed and empowered citizenry who then participates and engage in the democratic process , we see that the PACA role and platform is one of the channels that enables normal citizens to do so.

Our trainings are open to members of the public from all walks of life as long as you are 21 years and above and is keen to learn. Usually we use a mix of English and BM to conduct the training workshop. We conduct the training in a politically –neutral manner and it is later up to them to choose any candidate they wish to help. We only ask that each of them help to promote free and fair elections. Our trainers and facilitators themselves are volunteers. Our trainings are interactive and fun as we use role-plays to enable participants to get a hands-on feel of the election process as well as their roles and duties as a PACA.

Some people think that having elections means we have a democracy. A democracy will be as good or bad as the citizens that participate in it. It is not only the responsibility to vote whoever the person of your choice to be ur elected rep BUT we need to participate in the process of governance thereafter. Keeping him/them accountable to the rakyat .

Which brings me to next point..

Our Voter Registration exercises. ROSE encourages all to register themselves as voters by attending our mobile counters or going to the nearest post office to register themselves. Process of registration takes 4-6 months and there is no better time to get yourself registered than now.

ROSE is forever looking for volunteers to help us in our projects and activities. But if one cannot spare the time , one can choose to contribute financially to our cause and work. We have recently put out the call for our friends and supporters to GIVE to ROSE.

Last but not least, we sum this morning’s PC by calling members of the public to TAKE CHARGE, GET INVOLVED , PARTICIPATE. DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF. ..the best thing you can do this coming Hari Kebangsaan is to devote about 3-4 hours of your time to attend our PACA training session. Pls register your attendance by emailing ROSE at my@sarawakrose.org or Contact 016-3233361. Our first session will be held on 2nd Sept 2017 (Sat) at Mastermind Training Centre, Green Road Kuching at 1.30 pm.